Ohio State men's basketball: Bench’s energy ignites Nebraska blowout

Request to buy this photoERIC ALBRECHT | DispatchOhio State’s LaQuinton Ross drives against Nebraska’s Tai Webster in the second half. The Buckeyes made a 16-6 run early in the half to build a 20-point lead.

Request to buy this photoERIC ALBRECHT | DispatchOhio State’s Aaron Craft dives for a loose ball against Nebraska Cornhusker Tai Webster during the second half.

Nine Ohio State players are averaging double-figure minutes this season, and coach Thad Matta has said, depending on the matchups, that he’s comfortable continuing to reach that far down his bench with the Big Ten schedule underway.

Against Nebraska yesterday, the reserves gave him no reason to second-guess himself.

Della Valle led Ohio State (15-0 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) with 15 points, Loving and Shannon Scott scored 13 apiece, LaQuinton Ross had 11 and Amir Williams 10 for the Buckeyes in their first Big Ten home game.

Loving’s total was a career high, and he had five rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal. Thompson had four assists and a blocked shot, and McDonald five rebounds and a blocked shot.

“They did a tremendous job for us,” Matta said.

“The big thing you want as a coach is guys to understand what they’re supposed to do when they go in. I think they saw today that maybe we weren’t as focused as we needed to be in a couple areas, and they brought that to the table.

Terran Petteway led Nebraska (8-6, 0-2) with 15 points.

It was the second time in the Cornhuskers’ three seasons in the Big Ten that they lost by 31 points at Ohio State; their losing margin was 26 a year ago.

They scored two points and did not have a field goal in the final 8:05.

“We’re a team that will play pretty well for a while and then we’ll get a little hysterical. ... I think you saw that tonight,” Nebraska coach Tim Miles said. “There were times we were really good and it looked like we were right there and we could compete. We have to learn how to sustain that.”

Ohio State missed eight of its first 12 shots from the field and fell behind 14-10 before taking a 40-30 halftime lead.

Thompson, Loving and Della Valle scored the first 12 points as the Buckeyes erased their four-point deficit with a 17-5 run. After Nebraska cut the lead to three, Ohio State closed the half with a 7-0 run on Aaron Craft’s first three-point basket in four games and field goals off a steal by Scott and a blocked shot by Thompson. McDonald also blocked a shot on the same possession Thompson did.

The defensive tenacity earned the five on the floor at that point — Scott, Craft, Della Valle, Thompson and McDonald — a standing ovation from the crowd.

“Playing the last four minutes with that energy, compared to the first four or five minutes, when we didn’t have that energy, I think we did a great job to finish the half,” Della Valle said, “and that led to a great start to the second half.”

A 16-6 run in the first 5:37 after halftime, highlighted by two threes by Ross and a step-back jumper by Craft with two seconds on the shot clock, increased Ohio State’s lead to 20 points, and the Buckeyes steadily built it to the end. It was their fifth win of the season by 30 points or more.

The next test won’t be as easy. The Buckeyes play at No. 5 Michigan State on Tuesday night, their first game against a ranked opponent since they won at then-No.17 Marquette in November.